SUSAN CAMPBELL: NRA stand on gun control should stir all of us to act

At a "press conference" last week, the National Rifle Association's leader proved irrefutably that his organization has wandered far afield from its original mission, and landed smack in Crazyville, with LaPierre as mayor.

Two days after that disturbed performance, LaPierre appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" to warn America of an "anti-Second Amendment industry." He would know an industry when he sees one, and if you doubt that, Google "Center for Responsive Politics" and "NRA" and see how much his bloated lobbying organization spends to get its way in Washington.

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LaPierre's tin-eared statements that blamed the awful Newtown shooting on everything but the weaponry favored by the shooter was a perfect explanation of why plenty of sane people with guns -- like me -- don't join the NRA.

Started in 1871 as an antidote for poor shooting on the part of the Union troops, the NRA now focuses its awesome political power on beating back even the hint of restrictions on gun ownership or access to the point of fanaticism. LaPierre has called for armed police officers in every school, which hasn't proven an effective deterrent to anything -- but it would mean more gun sales. An industry, indeed.

The organization's statement after the July movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colo.? A tweet that said: "Good morning, shooters. Happy Friday! Weekend plans?" One supposes the author of that tweet meant plans other than arranging 12 funerals from the massacre.

I, for one, am glad to see the NRA out itself.

The NRA lobbies hard against any politician its leadership deems "anti-gun," which can mean anything. Have you seen the "Obama Alert 2012?" It promises reports on "under the radar assaults" on the Second Amendment -- from a president who until Newtown has said shockingly little about gun control. Remember in '05 when agents confiscated guns in New Orleans after Katrina? That was under President George W. Bush. The NRA sued, but eventually settled. Meanwhile, gun owners in Connecticut and elsewhere are seeing a spike in sales. They're calling it the "Obama gun stimulus."

Gun safety, any one?

Before Newtown, conversations about tightening restrictions on gun ownership or access were rare among most politicians because of the pain the NRA could rain down on them. In 2011, state Sen. Gary LeBeau, D-East Hartford, couldn't get a bill that banned high-capacity magazines out of the Judiciary Committee. Maybe he'll have better luck this year, but already, the NRA's lackeys are gathering steam.

Though state Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, has received plenty of reasonable emails that don't agree with her notions about gun control, she also last week got this (verbatim): "A man named HITLER started gun control in 1938, he then murdered 6 million Jews and 10 million other people...The 2nd. Amendment says "SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED", what don't understand about those words?"

There should be a drinking game in which we all take a swig the moment a public figure is compared to Hitler. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Senator-elect Christopher Murphy was coming from yet another Newtown funeral and called LaPierre's performance "the most revolting, tone-deaf statement I've ever heard."

So the NRA is up and running, and that means the rest of us -- law-abiding gun owners, and everyone else -- needs to act, now. Contact your legislators, state and federal. Let them know you're watching, and you expect action. A year's membership to the NRA is $35. Send that to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, instead. If it's a fight they want, a fight they'll have.

Susan Campbell is an award-winning author of "Dating Jesus" and former columnist at the Hartford Courant. Her new biography, "Tempest-Tossed: The Spirit of Isabella Beecher Hooker," is coming soon. Email her at slcampbell417@gmail.com. Follow her blog at www.hot-dogma.com. Follow her on Twitter @campbellsl.